The next time you scroll through food content online, listen closely. You’ll hear a chorus of crackles, snaps and shattering pops. Whether it’s ASMR videos of crispy fried chicken, TikTok recipes promising the crunchiest tacos or duck-fat-fried croutons on a high-end restaurant salad, food has gotten louder – and we are here for it.

While flavor often hogs the spotlight, texture has slowly crept into the conversation about what makes certain foods irresistible, and crunchy is leading the charge. From the rise of ultra-crispy snacks to restaurant menus boasting audibly crackling dishes, crunch is becoming a defining factor in how we experience and enjoy food.

What Makes Crunch So Good

Psychologists and food scientists have long explored why humans crave that satisfying snap when you bite into something crispy. Charles Spence, an experimental psychologist at Oxford University, has studied the role of sound in eating. In his famous study, dubbed the Sonic Chip Experiment, he and his team found that hearing food crackle can make it taste fresher and more enjoyable.

In his latest cookbook, “Texture Over Taste,” Chef Joshua Weissman explores how the crunchy texture influences how we experience food. “It’s one of the few textures that I think is beloved by just about every human being on planet Earth,” he says. “It’s one of the few things that, devoid of flavor, can still make you want to go back for another bite. And then another. And then another.”

On a practical level, crunchy foods provide variety. In a single meal or dish, contrast between textures – soft, chewy, creamy and crisp – keeps things interesting. Without it, food can fall flat. Think of mac and cheese with a golden-brown, crispy-crunchy breadcrumb topping – the contrast of the tender noodles coated in creamy sauce with the crunch of the topping is what keeps you going back for bite after bite. “Crunch is a great cheat code to get something to immediately become a more memorable eating experience,” Weissman says.

According to Spence, there’s another reason crunchy food is more fun to eat than non-crunchy food. “Mostly when we eat, we don’t really pay attention,” he says. “Were on mobile devices, chatting or watching television.” Crunchy, crispy, noisy food can trick us into focusing on what we’re eating, creating a more enjoyable experience. After all, who doesn’t perk up at the sound of a spoon shattering the glass-like caramelized sugar topping of a creamy creme brulee?

What’s more, researchers say that crunchy foods increase joy while decreasing stress. “Crunchy foods lead to enhanced neural responses in areas of the brain that experience pleasantness and reward, increasing the sensation of well-being and secondarily reducing stress,” says Hugh Humphery, MD, a functional medicine psychiatrist.

Crunchy Foods Are Everywhere

This obsession with crunch is no accident. TikTok has fueled the trend, with countless creators showcasing techniques to maximize crispiness and ASMR videos accentuating the crackle of crunch-heavy foods with high-end mics. Social media is loaded with shatteringly crisp candied fruit, outrageously crunchy fried chicken and quesabirria tacos with the perfect amount of crackle to balance the meaty filling.

Crunchy food isn’t just going viral online, either; restaurants are embracing the trend, too, adopting new techniques to add textural contrast. For instance, chefs are incorporating ingredients like fried shallots, crispy panko, dehydrated vegetables and crisp-fried rice noodles into dishes to amplify crunch. Toppings like Japanese furikake, Chinese chili crisp and puffed grains add the perfect contrast to an otherwise soft, chewy or creamy dish.

This love of crunch isn’t just an American thing, either. In China, Sichuan-style crispy beef features strips of beef coated in starch and deep fried to a toothsome bite. Japanese karaage chicken is fried twice to give it that extra satisfying shell. And Korean fried chicken – double coated in rice starch for maximum crispiness – has become a global phenomenon.

Even snack aisles are getting louder. In Frito-Lay U.S.’s 2022 Trend Index, 70% of respondents said they go for something crunchy when they reach for a snack. “Considering every component of a snack – including the crunch factor – is very important to us,” said Denise Lefebvre, senior vice president of research and development for Frito-Lay and Quaker Foods North America.

Getting Crunchy in the Kitchen

The obsession with crunchy food is also driving kitchen innovations. The ever-more-popular air fryer promises the crunch of deep frying without the oil. Market Research Future predicts air fryer sales will hit $2.2 billion by 2032.

According to Weissman, “Food becomes crunchy during cooking due to one simple reaction: Rapid dehydration or removal of moisture.” Different cooking techniques produce different types of crunch. Think about how the crunch of a potato chip – a distinct, loud snap – is different from the crunch of chicharrones – a more mellow, snappy-crispy crunch. The difference between them is due to the exact combination of heat, time and hydration at play.

Deep frying is a common way to make food crunchy, but it isn’t the only way. Air frying, dehydration and baking all use a combination of heat and air circulation with the difference being the level of heat and the amount of time. Combination methods, like double cooking, use one method like boiling or steaming to soften food, and another, like roasting, to crisp the outside. This is what makes smashed potatoes irresistible – they’re boiled first, then crisped in the oven. Techniques like these allow home cooks to replicate the textures they crave.

Where Texture Is Headed

If current trends are any indication, crunch will only become more integral to how we cook and eat. Food scientists and chefs alike are exploring new ways to deliver that perfect bite. Companies are already experimenting with plant-based and low-oil alternatives to meet the demand for crispy snacks while catering to health-conscious consumers.

Food trends may come and go, but crunch is universal. Whether it’s the crackle of fried chicken, the snap of a perfectly baked baguette or the shatter of a delicate potato chip, texture gives food a life of its own. And crunch is so much more than just texture – it’s a full-volume celebration of eating that you’ll crave again and again.